Iran tourism experiencing boom despite sanctions: Official

[SubWater]

Iran tourism experiencing boom despite sanctions: Official
Tue Jul 9, 2019 01:35PM

1. Home
2. Iran
3. Economy

File photo shows people visiting the remains of the palace at Persepolis in southwest Iran.


The top official in Iran’s tourism sector has said that the country welcomed record number of tourists in the last Iranian calendar year which ended in March.

Ali Asghar Mounessan, who heads the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Iran (ICHTO), said on Tuesday that tourism in Iran has been experiencing a boom despite tough sanctions imposed on the country by the United States.

Mounessan told the official IRNA agency that the number of foreign tourists visiting Iran in the 12-month period ending in March 2019 had topped 7.8 million, an increase of 52 percent compared to the previous year.

He said tourism was now accounting for around three percent of Iran’s gross domestic product (GDP) with an annual turnover of around $8.11 billion.

The ICHTO head said Iran hopes to increase its tourism revenues to $24 billion to cover around six percent of the country's GDP by 2021.

Mounessan said Iran needed some $23 billion worth of investment in its tourism sector to meet the planned targets.

He added that Iran was currently executing various tourism projects across the country worth of $13 billion, adding that more work needed to be done in areas like ecotourism and development of the the industry in the countryside and rural regions.


PressTV-Iran waives visa for Chinese nationals
Iranian government gives the go ahead for annulling visa requirements for Chinese nationals.
Reports have shown that more foreigners have arrived in Iran since the national currency rial faced devaluation due to the sanctions that began last year.

Iran has sought to use the sanctions as an opportunity for sectors like tourism as they could ease government’s access to foreign currencies through attracting more foreigners to the country.

Mounessan said earlier this month that the government had agreed to allow visa-free entry for Chinese nationals visiting Iran, saying the move would trigger an unprecedented boom in the country's tourism industry in the coming years.

 

[skyshadow]

Iran tourism experiencing boom despite sanctions: Official
Tue Jul 9, 2019 01:35PM

1. Home
2. Iran
3. Economy

File photo shows people visiting the remains of the palace at Persepolis in southwest Iran.


The top official in Iran’s tourism sector has said that the country welcomed record number of tourists in the last Iranian calendar year which ended in March.

Ali Asghar Mounessan, who heads the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Iran (ICHTO), said on Tuesday that tourism in Iran has been experiencing a boom despite tough sanctions imposed on the country by the United States.

Mounessan told the official IRNA agency that the number of foreign tourists visiting Iran in the 12-month period ending in March 2019 had topped 7.8 million, an increase of 52 percent compared to the previous year.

He said tourism was now accounting for around three percent of Iran’s gross domestic product (GDP) with an annual turnover of around $8.11 billion.

The ICHTO head said Iran hopes to increase its tourism revenues to $24 billion to cover around six percent of the country's GDP by 2021.

Mounessan said Iran needed some $23 billion worth of investment in its tourism sector to meet the planned targets.

He added that Iran was currently executing various tourism projects across the country worth of $13 billion, adding that more work needed to be done in areas like ecotourism and development of the the industry in the countryside and rural regions.


PressTV-Iran waives visa for Chinese nationals
Iranian government gives the go ahead for annulling visa requirements for Chinese nationals.
Reports have shown that more foreigners have arrived in Iran since the national currency rial faced devaluation due to the sanctions that began last year.

Iran has sought to use the sanctions as an opportunity for sectors like tourism as they could ease government’s access to foreign currencies through attracting more foreigners to the country.

Mounessan said earlier this month that the government had agreed to allow visa-free entry for Chinese nationals visiting Iran, saying the move would trigger an unprecedented boom in the country's tourism industry in the coming years.

24 billion means almost 24 million tourist every year in 2 years that's a lot

 

[SubWater]

The ICHTO head said Iran hopes to increase its tourism revenues to $24 billion to cover around six percent of the country's GDP by 2021.

Mounessan said Iran needed some $23 billion worth of investment in its tourism sector to meet the planned targets.

24 billion means almost 24 million tourist every year in 2 years that's a lot

read carefully bold part.
they need $23 billion worth of investment to meet that number.
Sadly our airports do not have enough capacity to welcome this number of tourism nor our hotels.

I am sure if they invest, foreign tourist will come.

 

[skyshadow]

e

read carefully bold part.
they need $23 billion worth of investment to meet that number.
Sadly our airports do not have enough capacity to welcome this number of tourism nor our hotels.

I am sure if they invest, foreign tourist will come.

excellent, but they want it to reach 24 billion tourism revenues too and now they have almost 8 million tourist in a year and they make 8 billion out of it so if they want it to get to 24 billion as they said below then they need 24 million tourist in a year.

The ICHTO head said Iran hopes to increase its tourism revenues to $24 billion to cover around six percent of the country's GDP by 2021.

 

[SubWater]

e

excellent, but they want it to reach 24 billion tourism revenues too and now they have almost 8 million tourist in a year and they make 8 billion out of it so if they want it to get to 24 billion as they said below then they need 24 million tourist in a year.

The ICHTO head said Iran hopes to increase its tourism revenues to $24 billion to cover around six percent of the country's GDP by 2021.

current Iran tourism infrastructures do not have capacity of this number, mainly b/c we haven't invested at this area yet. without investing in such infrastructures we can not reach that number.
In first 20 seconds of below video, they call Imam khomeini airport has only 8 million passenger capacity pair year as main Iran entrance for tourism while I am sure 90% of this airport capacity is full by Iranian themselves who go abroad or come back to Iran.

 

[SubWater]

Iran to attract around million Chinese tourists in 5-year period: Official
Thu Jul 4, 2019 09:41AM [Updated: Thu Jul 4, 2019 10:40AM ]

1. Home
2. Iran
3. Culture

The file photo shows Chinese citizens in the Iranian capital of Tehran.


Iran is expected to attract around one million Chinese tourists within five years after the country approved to waive visa requirement for Chinese visitors, says an official.

Ali Asghar Mounesan, the head of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Iran (ICHTO) made the remarks in an interview with China Radio International on Thursday.

The Iranian government passed a law on Sunday lifting visa restrictions for Chinese visitors. The decision came in response to a joint request by the Foreign Ministry and the ICHTO as the country moves to find new sources of revenues amid the unilateral US sanction.

Considering the large population of China and the fact that some 150 million Chinese nationals visit other countries each year, Iran set sights on attracting Chinese tourists, said Mounesan, adding, “We are making efforts to provide target countries with good facilities in order to travel to Iran easily.”


PressTV-Iran waives visa for Chinese nationals
Iranian government gives the go ahead for annulling visa requirements for Chinese nationals.
According to official figures, the number of Chinese citizens visiting Iran annually currently stands at 52,000.

Stating that the tourism industry would soon turn into a new stimulus for the country’s economic growth, Mounesan said, Iran has taken new measures such as issuing electronic visas to attract foreign tourists.

Prior to the Sunday announcement for visa-free travel, the Chinese needed to obtain visa upon their arrival in Iran. It comes as Iranians still need to receive visas to travel to China. The two countries have been working on a scheme since 2014 to reciprocally waive visa requirements.

Iran has already exempted Azerbaijani nationals from visa requirements, waiting for Baku to reciprocate.

Iranian nationals can currently travel to about two dozen countries without observing default visa requirements.

In a related move last month, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ordered authorities to dismantle requirements for mandatory stamping of passports for foreigners arriving in Iran.

The move is meant to encourage more travels to the country at a time of increased economic sanctions by the United States which have restricted Tehran’s ability to access foreign currencies.

Iran is home to empires and civilizations dating back millennia. The country has relics dating back to the Elamite, Ancient Persian, and Islamic periods.

Iran hosts some of the world’s oldest cultural monuments, including 19 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and its varied terrain ranges from desert locales to ski resorts.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/07/04/600117/Iran-Chinese-nationals-tourists

 

[SubWater]

News / Economy
Iran tourist arrivals up by %30 each year since US sanctions enacted: VP
Monday, 23 December 2019 7:03 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 23 December 2019 7:09 PM ]

Iran’s vice president says tourists arrivals have surged over the past years despite US sanctions.
The number of international visitors to Iran has surged for the past two calendar years despite a series of sanctions imposed by the United States that have sought to isolate the country at the global level.

Iranian Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri said on Monday that tourism has boomed since March 2018 when Washington was preparing to impose its unilateral sanctions on Iran.

He said tourist arrivals into the country had surged by 30 percent each year for the past two years to reach a total of seven million visitors annually.

“The Americans had thought that through imposing oppressive sanctions against the Iranian nation, they would impede the travel of foreign visitors into our country,” said Jahangiri while visiting tourism facilities in the southern Iranian port city of Bushehr.

The senior government official admitted, however, that total arrivals could have hit a record of 10 million people at the end of this year in March 2020 if the sanctions had not been enforced.

Tourism has become a key sector for the Iranian economy since the sanctions were enacted in May last year.


Iran tourist arrivals neared 8 million in early 2019: Tourism chief
Iran’s tourism chief says 7.8 million foreigners visited the country in the year ending in March 2019.
Easing visa requirements and other restrictions, the government has sought more arrivals of tourists, especially from East Asian countries, as it looks for alternative sources of hard currency that could compensate for losses suffered in direct sale of oil.

Iran’s main department on tourism was upgraded to the rank of a ministry earlier this year to facilitate the policy-making in the sector and allow more investment attraction.

Authorities expect a total of seven million tourists to arrive in Iran until March, an increase of 42 percent year-on-year compared to 2016 when the country had just been relieved of international sanctions on its nuclear program.

 

[Arminkh]

News / Economy
Iran tourist arrivals up by %30 each year since US sanctions enacted: VP
Monday, 23 December 2019 7:03 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 23 December 2019 7:09 PM ]

Iran’s vice president says tourists arrivals have surged over the past years despite US sanctions.
The number of international visitors to Iran has surged for the past two calendar years despite a series of sanctions imposed by the United States that have sought to isolate the country at the global level.

Iranian Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri said on Monday that tourism has boomed since March 2018 when Washington was preparing to impose its unilateral sanctions on Iran.

He said tourist arrivals into the country had surged by 30 percent each year for the past two years to reach a total of seven million visitors annually.

“The Americans had thought that through imposing oppressive sanctions against the Iranian nation, they would impede the travel of foreign visitors into our country,” said Jahangiri while visiting tourism facilities in the southern Iranian port city of Bushehr.

The senior government official admitted, however, that total arrivals could have hit a record of 10 million people at the end of this year in March 2020 if the sanctions had not been enforced.

Tourism has become a key sector for the Iranian economy since the sanctions were enacted in May last year.


Iran tourist arrivals neared 8 million in early 2019: Tourism chief
Iran’s tourism chief says 7.8 million foreigners visited the country in the year ending in March 2019.
Easing visa requirements and other restrictions, the government has sought more arrivals of tourists, especially from East Asian countries, as it looks for alternative sources of hard currency that could compensate for losses suffered in direct sale of oil.

Iran’s main department on tourism was upgraded to the rank of a ministry earlier this year to facilitate the policy-making in the sector and allow more investment attraction.

Authorities expect a total of seven million tourists to arrive in Iran until March, an increase of 42 percent year-on-year compared to 2016 when the country had just been relieved of international sanctions on its nuclear program.

I guess one reason is it is really cheap now to visit Iran.

 

[Kaniska]

Do you have any statistics of number of people visiting to your country? I am curious to find if Indian people are visiting to Iran or not..

 

[Surya 1]

Iran is a country of traditional knowledge and rich heritage, Naturally many people from across the world would like to visit Iran irrespective of what problems Iran is facing in international relations. I too would like to visit Iran one day.

 

[LittleFish]

I have a plan to visit Iran/Turkey/Azerbaijan/Serbia in the future
For a normal Chinese (like me), concerns for a trip to Iran may include: (everyone having been to Iran said its very safe and friendly so security seems not a problem)
1. Language Problem. Can people in big cities speak English to some extent...?
2. Public Transportation. Transportation from Tehran to Isfahan/Shiraz/Yazd/Tabriz and back ... Which is recommended, by air (I wonder how much for Iranian domestic lanes?), train or bus?

 

[HAIDER]

Iran tourism experiencing boom despite sanctions: Official
Tue Jul 9, 2019 01:35PM

1. Home
2. Iran
3. Economy

File photo shows people visiting the remains of the palace at Persepolis in southwest Iran.


The top official in Iran’s tourism sector has said that the country welcomed record number of tourists in the last Iranian calendar year which ended in March.

Ali Asghar Mounessan, who heads the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Iran (ICHTO), said on Tuesday that tourism in Iran has been experiencing a boom despite tough sanctions imposed on the country by the United States.

Mounessan told the official IRNA agency that the number of foreign tourists visiting Iran in the 12-month period ending in March 2019 had topped 7.8 million, an increase of 52 percent compared to the previous year.

He said tourism was now accounting for around three percent of Iran’s gross domestic product (GDP) with an annual turnover of around $8.11 billion.

The ICHTO head said Iran hopes to increase its tourism revenues to $24 billion to cover around six percent of the country's GDP by 2021.

Mounessan said Iran needed some $23 billion worth of investment in its tourism sector to meet the planned targets.

He added that Iran was currently executing various tourism projects across the country worth of $13 billion, adding that more work needed to be done in areas like ecotourism and development of the the industry in the countryside and rural regions.


PressTV-Iran waives visa for Chinese nationals
Iranian government gives the go ahead for annulling visa requirements for Chinese nationals.
Reports have shown that more foreigners have arrived in Iran since the national currency rial faced devaluation due to the sanctions that began last year.

Iran has sought to use the sanctions as an opportunity for sectors like tourism as they could ease government’s access to foreign currencies through attracting more foreigners to the country.

Mounessan said earlier this month that the government had agreed to allow visa-free entry for Chinese nationals visiting Iran, saying the move would trigger an unprecedented boom in the country's tourism industry in the coming years.

Its getting very strange, people are profundly trying to explore the past .... what they trying to find ? ... I am one of them...but it hallucinates me

 

[skyshadow]

I have a plan to visit Iran/Turkey/Azerbaijan/Serbia in the future
For a normal Chinese (like me), concerns for a trip to Iran may include: (everyone having been to Iran said its very safe and friendly so security seems not a problem)
1. Language Problem. Can people in big cities speak English to some extent...?
2. Public Transportation. Transportation from Tehran to Isfahan/Shiraz/Yazd/Tabriz and back ... Which is recommended, by air (I wonder how much for Iranian domestic lanes?), train or bus?

Iran is a country of traditional knowledge and rich heritage, Naturally many people from across the world would like to visit Iran irrespective of what problems Iran is facing in international relations. I too would like to visit Iran one day.

you are more than welcome to visit us anytime.


security is not a problem but you should know that every country has little crimes like theft so the main security alert that are common in any place in world is recommended here too like protecting your personal belongings avoid traveling at dark places and alleyways at midnight .... its nice if you travel with tour as they provide many services these days.


1. young generation doesn't have problem to speak English but old generation not so much so i recommend that you have google translation with you as a secondary option. i would try to learn Iran money system too if i were you as it will confuse you 100% if you are traveling with Dollars i recommend to exchange your money at bazaar as in bazaar you can get up to 110,000 Rial for a 1 Dollar but if you exchange in Banks the rate is 40,000 Rial for a 1 Dollar so you see in bazaar you can get more money then you can give your money to an Bank for an tourist card if you do not want to carry lots of money every where you go.


2. Public transportation is good you can have train or metro, buses, airliners and taxes and Snapp ( Iranian version of Uber ) transportation in Iran is cheap so i think a bus ride from Tehran to Isfahan is 4-5 dollars and its even less with train, 25-50 with plane, 20 dollars for 1 day in 5 star hotel in Tehran which you can find cheap hotels and hostels in every city i recommend you to travel with train or buses to go between cities and to use Snapp ( Iranian version of Uber ) to go around in the cite


there are apps to help you book hotels or train, plane and tickets

 

[LittleFish]

you are more than welcome to visit us anytime.


security is not a problem but you should know that every country has little crimes like theft so the main security alert that are common in any place in world is recommended here too like protecting your personal belongings avoid traveling at dark places and alleyways at midnight .... its nice if you travel with tour as they provide many services these days.


1. young generation doesn't have problem to speak English but old generation not so much so i recommend that you have google translation with you as a secondary option. i would try to learn Iran money system too if i were you as it will confuse you 100% if you are traveling with Dollars i recommend to exchange your money at bazaar as in bazaar you can get up to 110,000 Rial for a 1 Dollar but if you exchange in Banks the rate is 40,000 Rial for a 1 Dollar so you see in bazaar you can get more money then you can give your money to an Bank for an tourist card if you do not want to carry lots of money every where you go.


2. Public transportation is good you can have train or metro, buses, airliners and taxes and Snapp ( Iranian version of Uber ) transportation in Iran is cheap so i think a bus ride from Tehran to Isfahan is 4-5 dollars and its even less with train, 25-50 with plane, 20 dollars for 1 day in 5 star hotel in Tehran which you can find cheap hotels and hostels in every city i recommend you to travel with train or buses to go between cities and to use Snapp ( Iranian version of Uber ) to go around in the cite


there are apps to help you book hotels or train, plane and tickets

A ton of thanks

 

[prashantazazel]

Anyone had problems getting a US visa later?
I would love to visit Iran.